The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz. Let's talk about the news. The news

00:00:21.040 from Dr. Fauci is that students can go back to school. Obviously, we'll need strong sanitation,

00:00:28.220 good social distancing, mask wearing where applicable, but the principal reasons that

00:00:33.920 the good doctor cites for the need for in-person instruction to begin as an option are the mental

00:00:39.820 health and nutrition needs of students, the educational needs of students, and also the

00:00:44.840 substantial impact on families that occurs when students are not able to go to school.

00:00:51.000 Now, this isn't for everyone. There are students, families, parents with special medical frailties.

00:00:56.920 There are teachers with medical frailties, those who might be a little older who need special

00:01:02.680 accommodations and assistance, but it's my expectation and hope that school districts will

00:01:07.840 be able to align their personnel with the needs of students and communities, and that we'll be able

00:01:14.380 to get this part of life back to some semblance of normal to bridge us to the great progress in

00:01:21.040 Operation Warp Speed and the development of therapeutics and vaccines.

00:01:28.800 Should we just abolish all U.S. history altogether in our schools? That is quite literally the proposal

00:01:37.760 now in the state of Illinois from Chicago area State Representative LaShawn Ford. He has put out a

00:01:46.160 statement, a press release alongside his proposed legislation to abolish all teaching of history

00:01:52.880 in Illinois schools. His argument is that history is not fair to women and minorities and the LGBTQ

00:02:00.640 community, that history is a function of white supremacy, of white privilege, and it upholds a racist

00:02:10.880 society. He cites the treatment of Native Americans in history and just wants to get rid of it.

00:02:19.280 Here's my hot take. America has a challenging history, so do all groups of humans, but I cherish every bit of

00:02:28.320 our history, every bit that is glorious and enlightened and unlifting, and similarly every bit that is abhorrent

00:02:36.640 and intolerable. Because it's only those intolerable moments in our history that allow us to see that we have to be a

00:02:45.760 better version of ourselves tomorrow. If we look back at our history and said we were just as good to one another as

00:02:52.560 human beings back then as we are now, then there wouldn't be that drive to improve and be better and be more

00:02:58.560 loving and caring and understanding to one another. Abolishing history isn't going to take down white supremacy.

00:03:05.760 Abolishing history isn't going to alter history. It's just going to make us naive to it. This is one of the

00:03:13.040 dumbest ideas I have ever seen introduced in any state legislature ever. American history should be

00:03:20.480 improved. It should have more academic rigor. We should have more context. We should enhance the

00:03:27.680 understanding of the values that animated the American Revolution and brought us the greatest society of

00:03:34.560 humans that have ever existed on the planet Earth. But no. They want to abolish history and I wonder why

00:03:41.360 that is. Because ultimately they want to make us not love this country so that they can replace this

00:03:47.760 country with something that looks more like Europe. Something that is socialist. A nation that doesn't

00:03:53.600 respect its borders or its people or its economy. That just functions as a virtue signal to the world.

00:04:00.880 Well, I am not here for it. I love American history because I love America and we should all fight

00:04:07.440 to protect and defend her. In 2016, after Donald Trump won the election, a lot of the establishment

00:04:17.360 were surprised, shocked, caught off guard. And I think they quickly developed a hoax of a plan to try to use

00:04:25.840 Russia as an illegitimate basis to destabilize the Trump presidency even during the transition, even

00:04:34.080 before it began. We're able to see now how people like Susan Rice during the transition were actively

00:04:41.280 involved in trying to delegitimize the incoming administration by smearing Michael Flynn. And Joe

00:04:48.240 Biden was involved in that effort trying to, you know, torture the Logan Act of all things into some

00:04:55.920 sort of prosecutorial basis for an investigation into Flynn. And so one has to ask in 2020, is there

00:05:03.840 a similar transition plan by Democrats, never Trumpers, the establishment to try to deprive Trump the

00:05:11.840 presidency, even if he wins a fair election by the people? There is a really thorough report from our

00:05:19.840 friends at the National Pulse, Rahim Kassam and nationally winners, where they lay out what they

00:05:25.680 believe is the democratic transition plan alongside some never Trump Republicans to try to steal a close

00:05:33.760 election from Donald Trump. That is the argument that the National Pulse makes. And they expose some of the

00:05:39.680 ties of the integrity group, perhaps the inaptly named integrity group. John Podesta, you remember him

00:05:48.480 from the Hillary Clinton campaign. Donna Brazile, she was the head of the DNC that was slipping debate

00:05:54.800 questions to Hillary so that they didn't have to deal with the populist uprising of Bernie Sanders and

00:06:00.080 their movement. Michael Steele, the former head of the Republican National Committee, who has been

00:06:05.520 a very, I think, outspoken critic of President Trump. And so what this integrity group purports to do

00:06:14.160 is set up a process by which, oh, if Trump were to win and not hand over the reins of power to Joe Biden,

00:06:21.520 that they would be there to ensure that the democratic goals of the electorate were upheld.

00:06:29.440 It's not what it looks like to me. You know, what it looks like is that in the world where there's a

00:06:34.480 close election, like we had in 2016, I mean, while the electoral college was a blowout, let's remember

00:06:40.560 Trump won three Rust Belt states by about a point each. And so in a world where there's a close election,

00:06:46.880 this integrity group is what the establishment has set up to litigate, to posture, to communicate,

00:06:54.480 and to try to really grind down the populist energy that surged Donald Trump to the presidency and that

00:07:02.720 I believe is likely to do so again. So keep your eyes on the integrity group. Make sure to check

00:07:08.400 out the article in the National Polls. Touchdown Jesus. That's what was the rallying cry, I guess,

00:07:18.160 has been the rallying cry for some time at Notre Dame. And if you look at colleges and athletics,

00:07:24.400 you see that people of the LDS Mormon faith have really found a home rooting for BYU. People of the

00:07:31.920 Catholic faith found a home rooting for Notre Dame. And the vision for Liberty University is that they

00:07:40.560 could occupy a similar lane among highly evangelical Protestants. That's largely their donor base,

00:07:47.920 it's largely their student base. And so the dream of Jerry Falwell Jr., the current head of Liberty

00:07:54.320 University was to expand that athletic program, which he has done, bring it to the highest level

00:08:02.720 of competition, which he has done. And that has required a lot of recruiting that Liberty wasn't

00:08:09.360 doing before. And a lot of that recruiting has engaged black athletes in those programs on the campus

00:08:17.040 and in the academic mission of the school. Brings us to the news. Slate.com is, you know,

00:08:24.640 really a left-leaning smear website. And they have now written a smear piece on Liberty University,

00:08:32.240 where they chronicle the story of Tankland, one of the highest recruited athletes to find their way

00:08:38.240 to Liberty University, one of their football players, a defensive back, and a really bizarre and

00:08:43.920 unfortunate. And I would suggest inappropriate interaction he had with a professor where a

00:08:49.280 professor said, well, you know, it's not like I'm going to whip you when assigning assignment and

00:08:55.200 some tutoring and maybe some enhanced rigor to that educational activity. That's not something you should

00:09:02.240 you should say, a white professor to a black athlete. But instead of sort of dealing with that,

00:09:07.520 I think in an appropriate context, you see it emerge in the era of this heightened racial sensitivity to

00:09:17.520 an over-broad critique of Liberty as somehow a racist institution where people of color shouldn't feel safe.

00:09:26.080 One of the reasons this matters is that I fear too many institutions are being really backed into a corner

00:09:33.520 out of the fear of any accusation of racism. I mean, look at Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach. I mean,

00:09:40.960 they were so concerned about the impact of recruiting. They marched down to the state

00:09:45.200 capitol in Mississippi to request a change in the flag because they thought it would impact the

00:09:49.840 athletes they could bring on campus. At Oklahoma State University, Mike Van Gundy wore a One America

00:09:56.320 News shirt and had to come out and apologize for the shirt he wore fishing. I think we all know you

00:10:02.800 don't wear your favorite shirt fishing. You wear the one you figure you're going to get some blood and

00:10:06.400 guts and bait and fish scales on. But he wears the OAN shirt. It's apparently, you know, this,

00:10:13.360 this tragedy that he's done. So when he has to come out and apologize for it at Liberty University,

00:10:19.280 here's my hot take. They've built up a very substantial endowment. They have remarkable

00:10:26.080 facilities. They have good coaches. They have a highly competitive product. They have dedicated

00:10:32.240 students and fans. They're going to find athletes because here's the honest truth that a lot of people

00:10:38.160 just don't want to talk about. If you're a high-end division one top tier athlete, oftentimes you are

00:10:45.440 motivated on where to go based on who is offering you the most money. And I'm not talking about

00:10:50.800 scholarship money. I'm talking about the money that we all know changes hands in major college athletics.

00:10:58.320 Now, I have no basis to believe that Liberty University has done this, but I mean, come on.

00:11:04.560 Every major program is paying college football players and college basketball players. Some are doing

00:11:12.240 it through different means. Some are doing it through alumni. Some are doing it through coaches.

00:11:16.480 Some are doing it with knowledge of the university. Some are doing it without explicit knowledge of

00:11:22.080 the university. But everyone knows that these student athletes are getting paid. And so as long

00:11:26.640 as there's money at Liberty University, they're going to get athletes. And you know what? Why not?

00:11:32.560 I hope that the, I root for the kids. I hope the kids get as much money as they can get. I mean,

00:11:36.720 they're the ones that are building value. And in America, you ought to keep the value that you build.

00:11:41.120 But I do think that this piece by slate.com is largely intended to smear a Christian university.

00:11:48.080 I hope that all students are treated fairly in all of the environments that they encounter.

00:11:53.200 And I'm sure that Liberty University will have a highly competitive product

00:11:57.360 on the athletic field for years to come.

00:12:02.720 Is the HBO series Ballers coming true in real life? In the HBO series,

00:12:09.520 the character that Rock Johnson, Dwayne the Rock Johnson plays, is attempting to

00:12:16.720 buy a football team for a good amount of the series. And in real life, the Rock appears to have bought

00:12:23.920 the XFL, an entire football league. That's right. So the XFL basically goes under April 10th. They lay off

00:12:32.560 their entire staff. They blame coronavirus, though I'm not entirely sure how economically successful

00:12:39.680 the XFL was prior to coronavirus. But nonetheless, they say coronavirus is the reason they have to

00:12:44.480 shutter. They declare bankruptcy. And there was about to be an auction for the, the XFL league.

00:12:52.960 And according to Sports Illustrated's Chris Chavez, Dwayne the Rock Johnson and his ownership group

00:13:00.000 bring the only qualifying bid. So the bankruptcy court still has to approve this. But the Rock

00:13:07.200 essentially buys this with his partners for 15 million bucks. I mean, a bargain basement price. I

00:13:14.000 mean, you, you couldn't get a really good quarterback in the NFL for one year for 15 million bucks.

00:13:22.400 Yeah, maybe you could get one for, for about that amount, but you certainly couldn't field

00:13:26.000 a team. You certainly couldn't buy the league. And here you've got, I think the Rock in a pretty strong

00:13:33.200 position to build a brand here. He's a guy who certainly knows how to build one, but here's the

00:13:38.400 kicker. The Rock's partner in buying this is his ex-wife. Can you believe that? He gets married,

00:13:46.400 gets divorced and then teams up with his ex-wife to buy the XFL. So I guess it's a, it's hopeful

00:13:54.640 potentially for everyone out there who has an ex that they would like a more productive economic or

00:14:01.600 business or friendship based relationship with it. You know, if the Rock can go out there and buy

00:14:07.920 a football league with his ex, you could probably get along with yours. And that's a pretty compelling

00:14:14.720 from a guy who has mastered wrestling, mastered a substantial amount of the entertainment world

00:14:22.400 on the silver screen with movies and now out there in business and athletics as well. Do you smell what

00:14:28.400 the Rock is cooking? I sure do. And it sounds like his ex-wife will be for quite some time.

00:14:33.760 Tonight on HBO, 9 PM Eastern, The Swamp premieres, a documentary that follows calendar gear 2019 with

00:14:46.000 myself and Congressman Thomas Massey, Congressman Ken Buck with special appearances by Ro Khanna,

00:14:52.960 John Sarbanes and former Congresswoman Katie Hill. I think folks are going to like the documentary.

00:14:59.440 We talk honestly and earnestly about the corruption in Washington DC, the extent to which the decisions

00:15:06.640 made by the body are really not even made by the representatives to the body. They're largely made

00:15:12.320 by the special interests, lobbyists and political action committees that fund the largesse of the

00:15:20.240 political industrial complex with campaigns that are growing ever more combative and expensive and

00:15:27.680 reliant on funds that don't just come from an individual or two, or even many individuals,

00:15:34.240 but that come from these concentrations of power through corporate political action committees,

00:15:40.240 ideological political action committees, leadership committees where members are able to raise special

00:15:46.080 interest money and give it to one another. There is a debate in the movie about HR1, which was the bill

00:15:54.080 by John Sarbanes and Nancy Pelosi to, in theory, clean up bad money in our good politics. The problem with HR1

00:16:04.560 is that it creates a system whereby taxpayers have to fund campaigns, even if they don't agree with them.

00:16:10.720 See, I think that any movement should be able to mobilize supporters and donors and participants without

00:16:20.160 compulsory attendance in the political process. I mean, part of the freedom of our politics is also

00:16:26.480 the ability to be free from politics, if you so choose. And so I don't think that taxpayer funding

00:16:33.280 of political campaigns, I don't think that taxpayer funding of those robocalls or mailers or television

00:16:40.160 ads really aligns with American politics because we ought to be able to go out and do what Bernie Sanders does or

00:16:48.160 or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or myself or any number of other people who get their donations directly from

00:16:55.280 the people and who then serve without the sword of Damocles of some special interest group hanging over

00:17:03.680 your head. So again, I support congressional reform. I think we absolutely need reform to the campaign

00:17:10.560 finance process. But for me, that does not mean taxpayer funding of things that annoy taxpayers. And that's

00:17:17.760 political communications from politicians. Watch HBO tonight, The Swamp. You're going to love it.

00:17:24.720 9 p.m. Eastern. Hope you enjoy.

00:17:30.240 I bet you'll never guess the next victim of the cancel culture, yoga. Are we too woke for yoga in society?

00:17:41.120 The Thought Bubble magazine thinks so. It says that yoga needs to be de-gentrified. It needs to be

00:17:49.600 de-colonialized. I did not view yoga as a colonial endeavor, but apparently it is. The Thought Bubble magazine

00:17:58.320 making the argument that companies like Nike and Lululemon have made a lot of money off of yoga

00:18:05.760 without understanding its true inner peace and without understanding that this has been a

00:18:13.280 colonializing, gentrifying experience to embrace yoga. Now, I will confess, most of the people that

00:18:21.280 I know that are obsessed with yoga are white women. Does that mean yoga is colonial? Does that mean

00:18:27.760 it's gentrified? I don't know. But if you think that yoga is unacceptable because too many white

00:18:35.760 women have adopted it, wait till you see what they've done to avocados and avocado toast.

00:18:42.320 Thanks so much for listening to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gates. Make sure you are

00:18:47.280 subscribed to our podcast on whatever your listening platform is so that each and every

00:18:52.240 day you are up to date regarding the ongoings of Washington, D.C. Tune in tomorrow. I'll be back with more Hot Takes.

Episode 60 - Abolish ＊ALL＊ of History？ The Rock Buys a Football League With His Ex. The Cancel Culture Claims...Yoga？

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